Learning from a Tough Loss

Everybody loses, but learning from those games makes you a winner. In today’s post I want to show a game that I lost but in return taught me the fundamental thematic ideas in the King’s Indian Defense.

Heading into this game, I was 1.5/3 at the National Chess Congress in Philadelphia, so for me, this was a must win game. Back then, I didn’t play as aggressively, but in this round I just attacked and attacked. While I lost, I discovered the importance of thematic ideas.

9…Ne8 Up to this point so far so good. Unfortunately, my knight on c5 was easily attacked later in the game, and cost me a bunch of tempi. Because of this game, I learned that I should play a7–a5 to solidify my knight on c5 and sustain pressure on e4.

10. Nd2 f5 11. f3

11…f4! This is a critical pawn push in many closed positions. The idea is to close off the White pieces from the kingside.

12. b4 Na6 13. a3

13…h5?! This is in the right spirit, but not the most efficient or orthodox way to attack the kingside. I need to play …Nf6 followed by a g–pawn push. By moving the knight, I would have brought in an additional piece.

14. Nb3

14…h4? Not a blunder, but terribly inefficient. Having moved the h–pawn, it makes my kingside attack awkward.

15. Na4 Nf6 16. b5

16…Nb8 Not a fun concession. By allowing White to attack my knight, he has successfully expanded the queenside and is ready to attack. If anything, he is slightly better.

24…hxg2? White doesn’t have to take. In fact, by keeping his king on g1, he is perfectly safe. Meanwhile I had missed 25. Bb4.

25. Bb4 Qh4

26. Nc3? A good bluff from me scared my opponent. White should have taken the rook since my bishop would not be able to go from f8 to c5 because of the knight. However, by moving the knight to c3, White actually makes it impossible to take the rook.

While I lost, I learned a lot about attacking chess in this game. I saw how playing a7–a5 would have been a game changer for me, and I saw how a g–pawn push would have been much more methodical. By learning these ideas, I was able to win many games, this one a year later in Atlanta.

By learning from an earlier loss, I actually became a better player, and my understanding of the King’s Indian grew substantially. If you think the game was a tough loss, then you probably were doing something right. Analyze and figure out what you need to tweak.